


A Very Rookie Blue Christmas

by catteo



Category: Rookie Blue
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-21
Updated: 2012-11-21
Packaged: 2017-11-19 04:42:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/569214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catteo/pseuds/catteo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Christmas party from post S1. Remember that whole Luke and Andy thing? Yeah, me neither really.</p><p>Written for the office Christmas party theme prompt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Very Rookie Blue Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [threeguesses](https://archiveofourown.org/users/threeguesses/gifts).



Andy’s basically exhausted. She’s always wondered what being bone-weary would feel like and suspects that this is it. All she’s been doing for days is chasing dead end leads and unpacking boxes. It’s isn’t that she’s not excited to be moving in with Luke, she just wants a break. She’s not entirely sure that the division Christmas Party is quite what she had in mind. 

Traci’s out of her mind with excitement though and made her promise to come, no matter what. Andy doesn’t quite know where it comes from, Traci’s love of all things festive. Andy herself would be pretty happy if she could fall asleep in October and wake up in the New Year. But she promised. And Andy McNally does not break a pinky-swear. 

She’s not quite sure what she pictured, but it sure as hell wasn’t this. Her first clue should probably have been the fact that Oliver was the one doing all the planning. She kept walking in on hushed conversations between him, Jerry and Sam. Most of them seemed to end with Sam throwing his arms up and storming off, Oliver chuckling to himself. And now she seems to be in some sort of Christmas nightmare, cunningly disguised as the Penny. Or at least she thinks that the bar is still here, hidden under tinsel and glitter, a giant plastic tree in the corner.

Andy spots the others sitting at a table on the far side of the room. There’s a space cleared where they usually sit. Andy’s slightly concerned at the implication that dancing is expected. Wonders how drunk it’s acceptable to get in order to stomach the night ahead. Suspects that the answer will be not enough. Is pretty happy to see that someone has had the same thought. From the look on her face, Andy’s pretty sure that it’s Gail. That, and the fact that Gail has three shots of tequila in front of her. 

For reasons that Andy can’t quite fathom, Dov appears to be dressed as a reindeer. Andy looks at him with a query on her face.

“Swarek told me it was fancy dress. I take back everything nice I ever said about him. He’s so _not_ awesome. Whatever.”

Andy tries for sympathy but it degenerates into a snort and a shrugged apology. 

“You’re just jealous cause he loves Andy the most.”

“What are you, anyway? Frosty the snowman?” Dov fires back.

Gail rolls her eyes, takes one look at Andy’s face and slides a tequila towards her, downs the other two herself in quick succession.

“Oh God. Don’t look now, but I think this is where it all starts to go downhill. It’s like watching my dad dance. I’m getting another round in.” 

Gail nearly gets bowled over by a couple spinning round on the dance floor as she walks over to the bar. Andy’s not even sure she knows who they are, but she can respect the fact that they’re the first ones dancing. Hears a whoop of approval from Oliver, sitting across the room with Sam and Jerry. He’s slightly red in the cheeks and Andy suspects that Zoe has given him free reign for the night.

She suddenly sees Traci walk through the door, waving at Jerry. She’s been considering asking if they want to go on a double date with her and Luke, but she gets the feeling that, for all that they’re both detectives, Luke and Jerry don’t exactly get on. Tries to push the thought to the back of her mind. It feels vaguely disloyal. She’s made her choices and, well, Luke’s great. Traci said so.

Jerry lets out a whoop as the music changes. Suddenly he’s on what Andy is going to generously refer to as the dance floor, playing some pretty enthusiastic air guitar. A crowd of people gathers around him and suddenly they’re all singing along to the music. Andy’s pretty certain she’s never seen this many middle-aged men pretending to be Axl Rose. She’s vaguely disturbed.

“Hi there!” Traci slides onto the stool next to her, passes over a beer.

“Um. Have you _seen_ your boyfriend?”

Traci snorts. “Yeah, he thinks he’s a rock star. Whatever. It’s cute. Speaking of which – hey there little Rudolph!” This last directed at Dov who’s still looking mutinous on the other side of the table.

“Shut up. At least I’m getting into the Christmas spirit.”

“Shame that’s all you’ll be getting into looking like that.” Traci fires back quick as a shot. Dov storms off threatening to kill Swarek. Andy’s about ninety percent sure he’s joking. Dov pauses to kick the jukebox. Make that eighty percent.

Suddenly Oliver’s in the middle of the room, yelling for quiet.

“Hey, folks! This one’s for my buddy Jerry, the wolfman.” And then he throws his head back and actually howls. Andy looks at Traci in amazement, as the entire room erupts like a wolf pack. Traci shrugs and leans in close.

“Jerry said this would probably happen. Apparently he went through some sort of incredibly “cool” phase where his chat up line involved being hungry like the wolf.” 

Andy snorts.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much what I said. They play this song every time there’s a party so he never forgets. I think they all just like howling at the ceiling.”

Andy spies Diaz across the bar and waves enthusiastically. Chris starts winding his way across the room, surprisingly crowded now. Barely has time to make it half way before Gail appears from nowhere, drink in hand and drags him off to the other side of the room. 

“Hey, you want another?”

“Yeah, thanks. I guess I should go and rescue my man too. Speaking of which, where’s Luke?”

“Working late on a case I think. He said he’d be here later. You know how it is.”  
Traci shoots her a look of sympathy as she heads for the bar. Andy signals for two beers and turns back to find herself almost nose to nose with Swarek. Steps back so hurriedly that she hits her elbow hard on the edge of the bar, face twisting with the sudden pain.

“You okay?”

“Yup. Yeah. Fine. Totally fine.” He’s giving her this _look_. She’s got no idea what it means but it’s on his face, like, most of the time. So presumably it’s important. She’s just misplaced her Sam Swarek decoder ring. He raises his eyebrows at her.

“What?”

“Nothing. It’s just I’ve never seen such a literal interpretation of this song before. You know, with the jumping.” This is better, the easy familiarity of the banter that flies between them. She can see the grin he’s trying so hard to suppress hovering at the edges of his mouth.

“Hah. Hah.” Her voice is laced with sarcasm as she turns to pick up her beers.

“Sam! Brother!” Oliver’s suddenly there at Sam’s elbow. “Whatya doing? Hey McNally, you old enough to be drinking?”

“Um…” Andy’s nonplussed. Has no idea how to handle Oliver at the best of times, but especially not when he’s halfway to wasted.

“Run along then. I have important things to discuss with Sammy here.”

“Oh, like the fact that you were clearly high when you finalized the songs for this party?” Oliver chuckles as Andy starts walking away, forming finger guns and pretending to shoot her. Apparently this is about boys playing cop as half the men in the room are taking aim with their index fingers. Andy will literally _never_ understand what goes on inside the male brain.

She makes it back to the table that they’ve claimed in the corner without further mishap. Traci and Jerry are already there, heads close, giggling at a shared joke. Andy feels a pang of jealousy, quickly suppressed. Wonders where Luke is.

There are shots already waiting on the table and Andy’s beginning to wonder at the wisdom of missing dinner in order to get here on time. She’d assumed there’d be food. They are cops after all, but apparently this is all about getting wasted. If you can’t beat them, and all that.

She hears Bruce Springsteen in the background and a strange hush falls over the room. Andy remembers that her dad would always go quiet whenever this song played. Told her that some things were sacred. She gets it now. Toasting to fallen comrades. She’s come closer than she’d like to losing people this year and she finally understands the need to push your fears aside in order to function. The need to sometimes acknowledge those less fortunate. 

She catches site of Sam at the periphery of his vision. He’s staring down at a table, deep in thought. She wonders what he’s lost. Tries to ignore the strange knot that twists in her gut at the look on his face.

Suddenly everyone’s moving again and the noise ramps up several notches. Jerry’s suddenly on his feet, holding a hand out to Traci.

“Would you like to dance, milady?”

“Why thank you kind sir.”

Andy figures they’ve taken leave of their senses. Chris and Gail appear beside her, giggling. Gail’s lipstick is smudged and there’s a bright red stain on Chris’ collar.

“Really? In the bathroom?” Andy’s not even faking how grossed out she is. It’s the _Penny_ for crying out loud. That is so far from hygienic. She does a full body shudder.

“What? There was mistletoe in the corridor. They were basically asking for it” Gail’s unapologetic. Chris turns a fetching shade of pink. Andy tries not to think about it.

“Where’s Dov anyway?”

“Dancing. Or whatever you want to call it. Rudolph on ice probably. I’m getting another drink. Anybody want?” Gail saunters off without waiting for an answer.

Oliver’s dragging Sam into the middle of the floor, Jerry hassling them good naturedly. Dov’s suddenly there between them, yelling at the top of his voice. Oliver and Jerry cheer him on as he starts rapping. Andy’s basically horrified. She’s pretty sure it’s going to take her a full twelve months to get over the images from tonight. Dov’s gained a red nose from somewhere. It doesn’t exactly help his image.

“It’s pretty tragic huh? Bunch of cops dancing around to a cop theme song. Happens every year. I try to tell Oliver to change things up, but his Christmas party mix is sacred. What can you do?” Sam seems remarkably sober given the state that everyone else is in. She’s not sure quite how he managed to sneak up on her.

“Well it beats the Miami Vice theme I suppose.”

“True. We should be grateful for small mercies. Good point McNally.” He walks off in the direction of the bathrooms. Andy gives it a few seconds, mindful of Gail’s comments about the mistletoe before she follows. That undercover thing shook her. Things are different now with Sam, an imperceptible shift in dynamic. He still looks out for her, but she’s stopped feeling like she has to call him sir. It’s unnerving. She tries not to think about it.

Of course Andy keeps forgetting that the universe basically hates her. She walks headlong into Sam as Oliver pushes him out into the hallway yelling at him to man up and get his ass on the D-floor. But _seriously_? _D-floor_? She rolls her eyes.

“Sorry.”

“No problem.” She goes to move past them.

“Not so fast McNally! If I’m not mistaken you’re standing underneath the mistletoe with Sam and you know what that means?”

 _That my life couldn’t get any worse_ thinks Andy.

“You’ve got to kiss my buddy Swarek. Isn’t that right brother? There are actual rules. I think I’ve even got them written down somewhere.” Oliver makes a grand show of patting himself down. Sam’s just standing there. He’s got that strange look on his face again. Andy feels her heartbeat ratchet up several notches. Like perhaps her body has an idea of what’s going on, even if she refuses to admit it to herself.

“Come on Sammy, kiss the girl!” Oliver shoves her at Sam. Chuckles as they collide, then leans himself against the wall, arms crossed. Gestures at them to get on with it.

Andy’s suddenly very aware of Sam’s hands, one at her elbow and the other low on her waist where he steadied her as she stumbled. She feels like she’s on fire at every point where they’re touching. She swallows hard, angles her face slightly towards him and stares him straight in the eyes. His expression’s unreadable and she feels goose bumps spring out on every inch of her body as he leans closer. 

His fingers slide up to brush at the nape of her neck as their lips touch and she’s suddenly having flashbacks. Remembers the feel of him between her thighs, the smell of his skin pushed up against her. She’s brought to her senses by Oliver’s cheering. Sam pulls back, leaving her gasping against empty air. She feels the loss like an ache. He walks away, glances over his shoulder as he goes. Manages something that couldn’t exactly be called a smile.

Andy somehow manages to make it into the bathroom. Stands and stares at her reflection in the mirror. Tries to calm her jagged breathing. Suddenly remembers that she’s actually waiting here for _Luke_ and almost has a full blown panic attack. It’s not helped by ‘Father Figure’ blasting over the speakers in the ladies. This is all basically just too much to deal with. She needs to find Traci.

She’s almost all the way back to her table when she sees Luke sitting there. Traci’s doing her best to keep up a conversation, but Andy can see even from this distance that Luke’s exhausted. She feels a sudden pang of guilt and resolves to be a better girlfriend. What even is she thinking with this whole Sam thing. Basically she needs to get herself a grip. Or a Christmas miracle or something.

“Hey.” She kisses Luke on the cheek. Doesn’t think she can handle her brain doing any comparisons right now.

“Hey.” She can hear the tiredness bleeding through his voice.

“Trace, I think we’re going to head off. That okay?” Traci’s got this look on her face like they’re going to be having a _talk_ once they’re alone.

“Sure. You kids have a safe trip home.” She heads towards Jerry, singing along with the others at the bar. 

Luke slings his arm across her shoulders as they head out, a comforting weight. There’s no sign of Sam. Probably a good thing given her recent inability to think straight when he’s around. Doesn’t see him leaning up against his car in the darkness. Misses the wry shake of his head as he sees her walking away with Callaghan. Sam’s sudden exhale clouds the cold air around him and he walks slowly back to the bar. Opens the door and allows the warmth and laughter to envelop him.


End file.
